Looking back, I do not recall just how the thing started. I believe Tish
expressed a desire to see the car go, and Mr. Ellis said he couldn't let
her out on the roads, but that the race-track at the fair-ground was
open and if we cared to drive down there in Tish's car he would show us
her paces, as he called it.

From that to going to the race-track, and from that to Tish's getting in
beside him on the mechanician's seat and going round once or twice, was
natural. I refused; I didn't like the look of the thing.

Tish came back with a cinder in her eye and full of enthusiasm. "It was
magnificent, Lizzie," she said. "The only word for it is sublime. You
see nothing. There is just the rush of the wind and the roar of the
engine and a wonderful feeling of flying. Here! See if you can find this
cinder."

"Won't you try it, Miss--er--Lizzie?"

"No, thanks," I replied. "I can get all the roar and rush of wind I want
in front of an electric fan, and no danger."

He stood by, looking out over the oval track while I took three cinders
from Tish's eye.

"Great track!" he said. "It's a horse-track, of course, but it's in
bully shape--the county fair is held there and these fellows make a big
feature of their horse-races. I came up here to persuade them to hold an
automobile meet, but they've got cold feet an the proposition."

"What was the proposition?" asked Tish.

"Well," he said, "it was something like this. I've been turning the
trick all over the country and it works like a charm. The town's ahead
in money and business, for an automobile race always brings a big crowd;
the track owners make the gate money and the racing-cars get the prizes.
Everybody's ahead. It's a clean sport too."

"I don't approve of racing for money," Tish said decidedly.

But Mr. Ellis shrugged his shoulders. "It's really hardly racing for
money," he explained. "The prizes cover the expenses of the racing-cars,
which are heavy naturally. The cars alone cost a young fortune."

"I see," said Tish. "I hadn't thought of it in that light. Well, why
didn't Morris Valley jump at the chance?"

He hesitated a moment before he answered. "It was my fault really," he
said. "They were willing enough to have the races, but it was a matter
of money. I made them a proposition to duplicate whatever prize money
they offered, and in return I was to have half the gate receipts and the
betting privileges."

Tish quite stiffened. "Clean sport!" she said sar